Trolling, and Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard, Wesley Sneijder, Alan Shearer, Dimitar Berabtov, Ronaldinho, Celio Silva… Celio Silva. Another summer, another tiresome transfer ‘saga’ in the offing as Belgian midfielder-cum-winger Hazard cock-teases his way around Europe’s major clubs, before inevitably joining “the project” over at Manchester City. It’s all about the trophies you see. And the filthy lucre.

The drawn-out transfer, negotiated in time-honoured fashion via Sky Sports News, is almost certain to conclude around midnight, 31 August, as Jim White chases the youngster through Heathrow for a final conclusive answer. And the last few headlines of the summer. By which time those viewers who have not already cranked up the oven, primed for head insertion, will surely do so. Even if its electric, rather than gas.

After all, the close-season is barely two days old, but has rapidly descended into the desperate summer search for column-filling news, football in absentia. The summer’s other entertainment – John Terry drunkenly harassing an under-age Ukrainian barmaid just hours before England’s Euro 2012 opener against France – can wait, for now.

In the meantime, Hazard is likely to command many of those headlines, having spent the season enjoying the considerable attention his irregular proclamations of love and loyalty have brought. After all he loves La Liga, and Italy, and England, and Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur, and Real Madrid, and Barcelona, and the colour blue. Everybody say, ‘eh oh’.

Remarkably, the Belgian cranked up the gossip juice even further this past weekend – the 21-year-old’s agent had seemingly let it be known that his charge would announce next season’s destination after Lille’s fixture with AS Nancy on Sunday evening. The world watched and waited, first as Hazard signed off his five-year spell at Lille with a hat-trick in the home side’s 4-1 demolition of mid-table Nancy, then as the player departed on a 15 minute lap-of-honour with toddler in tow, then as Hazard announced he would be joining….

“As long as I’ve not put pen to paper, I won’t say where I’m going,” the Belgian international told Canal+.

“I have not yet made my choice. Chelsea could interest me now. They’ve won the Champions League and will therefore be in it next season. It’s really important for me to be playing in that competition. Chelsea are a big club with some great players – of course it’s a possibility.

“For now, nothing’s been decided, but it will be soon I hope that by June 2 it will be clear. Now I want to join up with the national team and then go on holiday. It’ll do me a lot of good. My agent has met with Manchester and with Chelsea. They both give good offers and are both great clubs. I don’t know. It’s not been finalised yet.”

Quite which club ‘Manchester’ is wasn’t clarified.

But if Hazard took the wind-up to a new level, fans and the mainstream media have joined the fun. First, Sky Sports News reported on Monday morning that it “understands Hazard would prefer to join United” this summer. Cynics might add that the channel normally “understands” whatever is in the morning’s newspapers, gossip sites, Twitter, or is fed by agents. Or generates the most headlines, clicks and viewers. Rant couldn’t possibly comment.

Meanwhile, Hazard is lapping up the attention – a young man who has the world at his feet, and seemingly knows it. The 26-cap Belgian international has spent much of the past season proclaiming his love for every club, or country, in which he could potentially play next season. Talent and conceit in equal measure, some might say.

That, of course, is to say nothing of the player’s representative, firsteleven ISM, which is reportedly seeking €8 million simply to do the deal with interested parties this summer. Add Lille’s €35 million transfer fee, and wages upwards of £150,000 per week, and any deal for Hazard will necessarily be complex. It’s a fact supporters may wish to take into consideration when assessing any future headlines!

On the field Hazard’s season ended with a first League 1 hat-trick of a fledgling career, taking the youngster to 20 goals for the season. Lille missed out on Le Championnat crown though, finising third behind PSG and champions Montpellier. The player is more Cristano Ronaldo than Paul Scholes, but it is easy to envisage the player in Sir Alex Ferguson’s tactical thinking next season, with the United manager apprently after pace in midfield.

It is, of course, not quite so easy to believe that the Glazer family is genuinely prepared to invest upwards of £80 million on a single player over the length of a five-year contract.

Yet, United is apparently still an option if the mainstream media is to be believed, with Lille managing director Frederic Paquet revealing that four clubs are in the running for the player’s signature – Chelsea, City, United and, presumably, Real Madrid.

“I’m not sure he himself knows exactly where he will go, so for the moment we don’t know,” Parquet told Sky Sports News.

“From what I know I think there are maybe four teams interested in him. At this moment we don’t know. We have a very strong relationship with the player and his advisors, so we will get together and for the moment we are just waiting for him to make a choice between these four teams.”

In the meantime the headline-makers will keep on chasing viewers: proclamations of Hazard’s impending departure to City, Chelsea, Madrid and United will likely abound. Perhaps best, then, to take it all in with good humour. Especially if the player himself has anything to say.

I got my hopes up slightly when I saw the Sky Sports thing… to be fair they rarely say things like that if there isn’t some truth behind it.

City seem like favourites, especially for someone of his arrogance. But I suppose with the number of midfielders they have it might make him think twice. One thing he is guaranteed at United is a fucking first team place.

Hmm…. well City just won the league. Chelsea just won the CL and domestic cup. Liverpool won the LC and Barca/Madrid are the best two teams in the world.

It’s more of difference between wanting to be a passenger, or wanting to earn the trophy. The more read about him, the more I think he isn’t too fussed about history, legacy or the other David Gill-isms.

Turns out it’s all about the money. Sure Chelsea won the CL but they also put up $32M euro transfer and are shelling $4.2M euro a year salary on Hazard. Would SAF put up $4.2M euro a year for 21 year midfielder who’s only competition has been Ligue 1? Don’t think so.

Commenter said:
I got my hopes up slightly when I saw the Sky Sports thing… to be fair they rarely say things like that if there isn’t some truth behind it.

City seem like favourites, especially for someone of his arrogance. But I suppose with the number of midfielders they have it might make him think twice. One thing he is guaranteed at United is a fucking first team place.

“we tried to get hazard and kagawa before they went to city and arsenal, that proves theres money available, however we’re very happy with the squad we’ve got and are delighted that park has decided to stay, and although a full back, clyne can certainly do a job for us in midfield, as can wayne, jones, young etc, oh yes there’s no question about that”

I don’t mind this sort of garbage being bandied around, as long as we aren’t genuinely interested in signing him, because it diverts everyone’s attention away from our actual transfer targets. Like in 2007 when Arsenal and Chelsea were supposedly battling for Nani and we all work up one morning to news that we had signed Nani and Anderson, despite nobody linking us to them.

The danger is that SAF actually IS interested in signing him and focuses all his resources into securing his signature. That really would be foolish because there is pretty much zero possibility that we’re going to sign him.

No chance of Hazard coming to United. City will offer 40 million and pop him 160,000 a week end of discussion. City will ditch a few as well. Milner, Johnson even Richards isn’t safe. They want to take over Europe and they will. Just with a small but very expensive top quality squad fuck FFP if the UN can’t touch the Saudi’s then I can’t see UEFA doing it!

Hopefully we will get Kagawa but don’t hold your breathe Clyne could be all we get…

Of course he does… right up until City offer him double what we will… then he’ll say that actually, he bleeds blue.

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

nomoremoney.com has concluded its transfer business early.Capable hands Gill has snapped up marquee signing Nick Powell from Crewe after declining to get involved in an auction for anyone anyone has heard of.
Said a smirking Capable Hands “When you are the number one football brand in the world, you dont need to spend money to show you are perfectly capable of splashing the cash. Idiots will believe anything at season ticket renewal time. There is actually no value in the market, and when you think about it, re-signing Scholes, a fit again Fletcher and he can go on forever Giggs are just like 3 new signings. And if Anderson and Cleverley manage to stay fit for more than 2 games at a time, that is actually just like 5 new signings.

I don’t see United going for Hazard being a good idea, unless his market value has to potential to go up by another 20-30m in a few years then no.
A sum like £35m should be spent on the finished article, not an upcoming talent unless that resource has the potential to go up by 30m in a few years.
Hazard doesn’t seem the type who’ll stay in a club for too long, he’ll be like Ronaldo, looking for a change. This is fine, as long as his value goes up too, but he has to turn into some player for a club to bid £50-60m in the future.
The risk is there too, injuries can reduce his throughput and value and his massive wages will still have to be paid.
Take Benzema for example, he was worth £30m when Real bought him, how much is he worth now? Not more than 30, probably less. Wasn’t he a higher profile player 3 years ago than Hazard is now?
If United spend big, they should do it on the finished article. The only exception is if United see Hazard being worth 60m i.e. Rooney, Ronaldo potential. He’s that good?
And we need an other winger apparently.

Theres more chance of Roy Keane coming out of retirement to play for Utd than signing Hazard. Utd simply will not spend that kind of money on a player under the Glazer regime. I espect another winger and maybe a left back for a combined 15-20mil. We’ll hear all about the no value in the market and midfield will be made up with new signings Cleverly and Anderson.

uncleknobheadforfucksake said:
“we tried to get hazard and kagawa before they went to city and arsenal, that proves theres money available, however we’re very happy with the squad we’ve got and are delighted that park has decided to stay, and although a full back, clyne can certainly do a job for us in midfield, as can wayne, jones, young etc, oh yes there’s no question about that”

feels like the 89th minute on the last day of the season. We were about to win the league, but it still didn’t feel real.

… and we all know how that one turned out.

Yeah I heard the chat about Hazard choosing United on 5 Live as well. You want to be optimistic and hope Hazard will not just choose the money, but you have to face reality. Whether we like it or not, Chelsea and City can spend whatever they want and get the top players while we’ll be left with the scraps.

dozer said:
I don’t see United going for Hazard being a good idea, unless his market value has to potential to go up by another 20-30m in a few years then no.
A sum like £35m should be spent on the finished article, not an upcoming talent unless that resource has the potential to go up by 30m in a few years.
Hazard doesn’t seem the type who’ll stay in a club for too long, he’ll be like Ronaldo, looking for a change. This is fine, as long as his value goes up too, but he has to turn into some player for a club to bid £50-60m in the future.
The risk is there too, injuries can reduce his throughput and value and his massive wages will still have to be paid.
Take Benzema for example, he was worth £30m when Real bought him, how much is he worth now? Not more than 30, probably less. Wasn’t he a higher profile player 3 years ago than Hazard is now?
If United spend big, they should do it on the finished article. The only exception is if United see Hazard being worth 60m i.e. Rooney, Ronaldo potential. He’s that good?
And we need an other winger apparently.

Benzema has had a great season for Real Madrid and is just overshadowed by CR’s achievements. In terms of bringing in the ‘finished article’ who do you suggest? We can’t get Schweinsteiger and we can’t get Modric and we didn’t want to pay for Sneijder. Who else is there? There are very few quality central MFs around these days, so when one comes along you have to go for it. I don’t think we’ll get Hazard but only he and Gotze are the only young players I’d pay big money for. Gotze isn’t going anywhere right now so everyone will bid for Hazard. I would hope he’d look at United and realize that he’d virtually be given a starting place when he arrives; that and the tradition of the club and what it has achieved over the years. He’ll likely choose City or Chelsea but it would say a lot about his character IF he chose United. We’ll see – perhaps Kagawa and some young kids are as good as we could hope for.

The really sad part about all of this is that if we were to sign Hazard and Kagawa this summer, Vidic came back, Clevz23 was fit… we would have a really good side. & instantly one of the most promising midfields in football.

Maybe there’s a chance Fergie & the Glazers know this and are prepared to spend………..?

I suppose it was meant to be a massive hint to city, arsenal and chelski that United won’t be splashing the cash, when in reality we will be. He could also have been saying that most players aren’t worth the money they are meant to be worth. I dunno, I’m sure Fergie has fooled many a manager with this, especially since Gill says he has the money available.

Berbatov was 27. Don’t think we’ll be doing that again. This is also (another) reason we won’t get llorente. I think he is 27.

Mind you Young is 26 and Fergie mentioned the experience he brought to the team. With the sales of o’shea, brown etc., maybe he will bring in an experienced player, in which case the player will almost certainly be from the PL.

I rate Baines… but he was a player worth buying 2/3 years ago… not now that he’s closer to 30 than 25… because that doesn’t really make much of an age improvement on Evra… who, if he gets a game off every now and then, still has a couple good years in him.
However, and I think I’ve said this before… it wouldn’t surprise me if Ferguson doesn’t see Baines as a cheap way to address the left wing spot.
It’s not ideal, but Baines AND Evra would be a better left pairing than what we’ve currently got.
It would be a pitiful solution to a problem, for a team of Uniteds stature though.

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

If Hazard has any sense he will not come to United. We will stick him in a central midfield duo alongside Carrick and he will be expected to tackle and create goals.
We need to go to Spurs now and buy Sandro. Also if we are going to Everton best to take that young midfielder off them – his name eludes me now for.
Baines is not a bad addition to be fair as Evra needs rest.

We have no one in our team now that can do what Sandro can. NONE. Jack Rodwell is another we do not have any like. Sir Alex’s teams have always gotten their creativity from the wide players AND the second striker who will play in the hole.

I will still take Downing. He is a proper wide man and has the left foot we do not have when Evra is injured or rested. We ask our french man to bomb up and down ALL the time.

Sandro is a limited specialist type, and he wears a gumshield which makes him look like a dick who is trying to be hard. Proper hard people don’t need to do that. Stiles used to take his teeth out before a game, that’s hard.

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

sidney said:
Sandro is a limited specialist type, and he wears a gumshield which makes him look like a dick who is trying to be hard. Proper hard people don’t need to do that. Stiles used to take his teeth out before a game, that’s hard.

Sidney,
can you define that statement about him being limited? He is very athletic, tackles, runs with the ball and has very good shot on him. How does that make him “limited”? He does much more than Scholes could do in the last 3 seasons and yet you guys did not think he was “limited and specialist”. Stiles was as blind as a bat and would not have lasted in the modern game so bringing him into this makes no sense. We are not looking for a hard man. We are looking for a midfielder who can actually TACKLE and win back possession. Since Keane left only Fletcher has offered us that. He is ten times the player that Parker is supposed to be but he does not need to dive into tackles because he is quicker than most.
Ditto for Rodwell. These are the types of players that will bring out the best in Michael Carrick…

We don’t need a destroyer, we need someone who can destroy and play also
Specialist destroyer types like Tiote and Sandro win the ball and play it simple. I’ve seen Tiote try to do more – try and hit 30/40 yard balls early, and fail, and the crowd were quick to get on his back (some geordie twat behind me said they would sell him to United tomorrow to get rid of him). They work best in 451 because they need players around them, and how often do we play 451 nowadays? Hardly ever.
M’Vila would be better than Tiote or Sandro. If he’s up for grabs, why is he going to Arsenal and not us.

A leading French newspaper today claims that Hazard has already signed a five-year deal with Man.Utd. AS I said before, Fergie has 100 million to spend on players, this is a fact! I would like to see Hazard and Bale at United but I will settle for Hazard and Kagawa. Anderson has been put on the transfer list along with Berbatov. There is another midfielder being looked at and he cost just 3 million. Modric at 45 million is not worth it but I would pay 40 million for Bale.

Of course Sid, ideally we would get a true gerrard, viera, keane, ince, robson, thundercunt but they are so rare. So given the choice I would get a destroyer over a creative. We need bollcoks, steal, committment, desire and genuine interception, takling and captaining skills.

Fellaini cost Everton £15 – I believe a record fee for them. Surely he will cost at the least £20, more likely £25 – is he really worth that?

No one seems to have any clue as to who is available/affordable/wants United/needed etc., as you’ve come up with Baines, Sandro, Rodwell, Downing, Fellaini, Michu, M’Vila. Obviously you’ve all got an eye on Glazernomics but which of those players improves our team? M’Vila does the same job Carrick does now, and there is no way Fellaini is worth the money.

For whoever said we need to buy a destroyer to bring the best out of Carrick, that’s ridiculous. He’s just had his best season playing mostly with Scholes. We replaced Keane with Hargreaves, then Fletcher and have now evolved our style of play with Carrick holding to intercept/break up play as well as distributing effectively. While having a player who might just break your leg might scare the opposition, I don’t think United need to resort to that to win and it’s in contradiction to the attacking football so many United fans profess to love.

The men we truly need to replace are Scholes and Giggs. Since moving to the middle, despite his critics, Giggs has brought his assists with him and is the leader in both all time PL and CL assists. As a creative midfielder, Kagawa/Hazard seems a sensible like for like swap for Giggs. As for Scholes, Modric (proven PL talent) or Sahin (cheaper + another R.M. reject success story waiting to happen (van der vaart, Robben, Sneijder)).

danniitronix said:
Of course Sid, ideally we would get a true gerrard, viera, keane, ince, robson, thundercunt but they are so rare. So given the choice I would get a destroyer over a creative. We need bollcoks, steal, committment, desire and genuine interception, takling and captaining skills.

Winning with bollocks and steel is an outdated concept. Defensive success in midfield is based far more these days on playing 3 CMs with a high work rate who will close down the space and force the opposition to play in front of them, or by keeping the ball and playing low risk football. Having some guy flying around the pitch is a liability, and more importantly, against a top side, will be ineffective as it is easy to play around the one guy. Successful defending is done as a team, not buy buying a destroyer

On your other requirements: We’re not about to buy a ready made captain. Rooney/Jones are clearly future leaders in the squad. We’ve got commitment and desire all over the pitch – if your looking for a headless chicken, go watch Tevez play for City. For interception/tackling we already have Carrick (http://www.unitedrant.co.uk/media/michael-carrick-a-season-in-numbers/) and Fletcher.

Buying a destroyer would be a massive mistake, even if we don’t buy the type of player Sidney was describing. It would be a quick way to reach footballing mediocrity, not winning. We are looking to bring through a new generation at OT. There is no sense in regressing tactically.

It used to be true in football that skill is admired, toughness respected, but only winning loved. Toughness has been replaced by tactical intelligence.

danniitronix said:
Of course Sid, ideally we would get a true gerrard, viera, keane, ince, robson, thundercunt but they are so rare. So given the choice I would get a destroyer over a creative. We need bollcoks, steal, committment, desire and genuine interception, takling and captaining skills.

But how many games would a destroyer type get at United? We don’t play 451 a lot anymore. These specialists are on their arse in a 442. If you ask too much of them, then they give the ball away as often as they win it.

I agree with Marlon. There must be players out there who fit the bill; who are defensively tactically astute, and can play a bit. South America is full of beefy ‘aving it cunts who can play. Surely the scouts have identified a couple of prospects, and we don’t have to rely on a one dimensional specialist, or Fellaini.

If I was the one buying the players, I would buy Douglas Costa and Gareth Bale. Thats my personal choice. Costa now is on the Brazilian national team. I would take Tottenham to the bank for Bale because Bale solves all my left side problems. Costa is a young, gifted player like Bale. I would bring in a right full back and a proven striker like the HULK. I would replace Mike Phelan with the manager of Bilbao, he would be Fergie’s assistant. We would come out next season with a new style of football that would rock the EPL. Man.City would be begging for mercy.

I find all this talk of spending tons of money and bringing in the likes of bale quite laughable. Remember who is in charge and how much we’ve spent since Glazernomics took over. A few rumors in the tabloids and the gullible people show up. Everyone will be disappointed when the likes of hazard, bale and modric go to other clubs and we are left with the scraps.

sidney said:
We don’t need a destroyer, we need someone who can destroy and play also

Specialist destroyer types like Tiote and Sandro win the ball and play it simple. I’ve seen Tiote try to do more – try and hit 30/40 yard balls early, and fail, and the crowd were quick to get on his back (some geordie twat behind me said they would sell him to United tomorrow to get rid of him). They work best in 451 because they need players around them, and how often do we play 451 nowadays? Hardly ever.

M’Vila would be better than Tiote or Sandro. If he’s up for grabs, why is he going to Arsenal and not us.

Exactly right… I don’t know what people see in Tiote… he is at his level with Newcastle.

The more I read about M’Vila the more I think he might be perfect for us… it sounds like Wenger sees him as the new Vieira.

Commenter said:
I find all this talk of spending tons of money and bringing in the likes of bale quite laughable. Remember who is in charge and how much we’ve spent since Glazernomics took over. A few rumors in the tabloids and the gullible people show up. Everyone will be disappointed when the likes of hazard, bale and modric go to other clubs and we are left with the scraps.

Yeah… it happens every fuckin year now dun’it?
I can’t fuckin help it either… I used to love the off season for this… because this sense of Christmas Eve excitement was for real… what kind of present might we get this year? Something well cool and fun to play with… now, we get all worked up… and then end up with fuckin socks and pants!

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

I think Drogba has said he won’t go to another PL club. Leaving England.

Fergie has said he won’t sign a holding midfielder which M’Vila seems to be, but i’m not really sure what his definition of a holding mid is. He seems to think we’ve never played with one – what was Carrick this year? Given we have Carrick, a playmaker would be more useful as it’s probably either or rather than both. Carrick, unlike Scholes/Giggs is at his peak and does not need replacing for a couple of years at least.

Fellaini over Sandro? I know for sure now that most of you do not watch this game. Sandro is ten times the player Tiote is supposed to be. Sandro is as close to patrick Vieira as you can get without being the man. He will get much better in our team. he is not a holding midfielder he is a complete midfielder that can attack and defend in equal measure. he can win the ball, he can pass it and he does score. If Redknapp was not such a thieving conniving cockney he would never put that overrated pygmy Parker ahead of Sandro.
Sando will play comfortably alongside Carrick when we are at home in a 4-4-2 and then when we go away and we drop a striker and play Cleverly for a 3 man middle he will be fine too.

Calvino said:
Fellaini over Sandro? I know for sure now that most of you do not watch this game. Sandro is ten times the player Tiote is supposed to be. Sandro is as close to patrick Vieira as you can get without being the man. He will get much better in our team. he is not a holding midfielder he is a complete midfielder that can attack and defend in equal measure. he can win the ball, he can pass it and he does score. If Redknapp was not such a thieving conniving cockney he would never put that overrated pygmy Parker ahead of Sandro.
Sando will play comfortably alongside Carrick when we are at home in a 4-4-2 and then when we go away and we drop a striker and play Cleverly for a 3 man middle he will be fine too.

If we also get Rodwell we will be fine.

cal – sandro is no viera, not even close but he is quality and he possesses all the skills you mention.

parker has been excellent and i would have him too.

i would also have tiote as raw potential.

i am sick of Anderson period, sick of Rooney being pushed into midfield and his game being fucked and as much as scholes can do, his legs are shot to peices. same goes for park, he falls over, that is it – he;s now fucked.

we have no power, we have to velocity, we have no energy, we have no leadership in the middle of the park.

sandro is not going to happen because Levy is an utter cunt.

tiote could happen. is it the number one choice, of course not but it’s a lot better than the rubbish we currently have.

we need power, raw fucking energy. not a leg breaker but a terrier who can win balls, intercept and pass through to rooney or a creative.

Commenter said:
All this nonsense about hard tackling midfielder is nonsens. We need a leader on the pitch, yes because we haven’t had one since Keane.

But hard tackling midfielders will get shown up in Europe where the Ribery, Robben and van Bommell clones will drop like a hat at the first contact and draw yellow cards.

How effective is Tiote after a yellow card? Do we want suspensions during the latter stages of the competition?

Players who are good with the ball at their feet under pressure is what we need. Barcelona, Bilbao, City and Wigan (ffs) showed us up in that department.

van bommel is a hard tackling midfielder you billy.

he can also intercept, make ground, close gaps, support defence and pass balls through to players with more flair.

don’t be such a spaz and pick one thing. no one is talking about a leg breaker, ffs.

barca, wigan, bilboa showed us that we can’t win the midfielder battle / win possession let alone create chances and get ball to rooney. it also made rooney play in midfield thus robbing us of his potency upfront. rooney in midfield is about as useful as alan smith was but it is testament to his ability that he can still do a job.

Can someone look up the stats? Whats our possession %? Are we really regularly getting overrun in midfield? Perhaps we are against the btter teams (Barca, city etc) But surely not vs most other teams?
Blackburn, Wigan, Everton – 3 games that if we won we wouldve won the league. Were we overrun in midfield then?
The 1-0 loss to City. 2nd half we were crying out for some creativity.
I would say go for creative midfielder, someone who can unlock defenses. Thats what we are crying out for…

We get overrun in midfield because when we get pressed heavily (by Barca, Bilbao, Wigan etc.) our players lose composure and send the ball to the defenders (as if they’re top notch passers of the ball) and they hoof it up. Rinse and repeat. Or alternatively, they pass to someone and the receiving players had a horrible first touch (Park?) and they lose it. Rinse and Repeat.

Ball control and first touch is seriously lacking in the first team itself. It really is a miracle Fergie got us tied on points with City. But we got shown up in Europe.

And the 0-1 to City? City weren’t even pressing that much. We had so much of the ball in both halves, it was unreal.

I was at the Blackburn game and while we didnt get overrun in midfield, the team had no shape in the first half. It was as if Fergie just threw 10 outfield players and told them to play. Didnt help that De Gea had a shocker too.

The real issue is that UTD have no one who can hold YaYa’s jockstrap – no one since DarrenFletcherinho got sick.

If UTD could get Fletcherinho back to his “football genius” mode then all this bleating would be beside the Point. His condition is chronic, unfortunately. His absence has been HUGE and the only guy in the present squad who has the goods to “replace” him is MrJones – and he would be a work-in-progress

The real issue is that UTD have no one who can hold YaYa’s jockstrap – no one since DarrenFletcherinho got sick.

If UTD could get Fletcherinho back to his “football genius” mode then all this bleating would be beside the Point. His condition is chronic, unfortunately. His absence has been HUGE and the only guy in the present squad who has the goods to “replace” him is MrJones – and he would be a work-in-progress.

Commenter said:
We get overrun in midfield because when we get pressed heavily (by Barca, Bilbao, Wigan etc.) our players lose composure and send the ball to the defenders (as if they’re top notch passers of the ball) and they hoof it up. Rinse and repeat. Or alternatively, they pass to someone and the receiving players had a horrible first touch (Park?) and they lose it. Rinse and Repeat.

Ball control and first touch is seriously lacking in the first team itself. It really is a miracle Fergie got us tied on points with City. But we got shown up in Europe.

And the 0-1 to City? City weren’t even pressing that much. We had so much of the ball in both halves, it was unreal.

I was at the Blackburn game and while we didnt get overrun in midfield, the team had no shape in the first half. It was as if Fergie just threw 10 outfield players and told them to play. Didnt help that De Gea had a shocker too.

Aye, crucifiyingly shit first touches (Rooney) and woefully shit misplaced passes are the reason we invited a lot of unnecessary pressure on ourselves. A Tiote type in those situations would make things 10 times worse, because they give the ball away when they’re asked to do something other than the basic.

“Eden Hazard has stressed that he is still not ready to deliver news on his destination. In an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen, he stated: “I do not know when a decision is made about my future club. Anyway, it will be between Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. The final choice also depends on how much play I would get and the position where I’m played.” The Lille star says his favoured role is the ‘No10′ just behind a striker and he looks set to fulfil that position for Belgium in the next two friendlies.”

Hmmm… I wonder if that’s a snipe at United and City….

City because he might not play very much, United because he might be played out of position.

Still reckon City are favourites but he does genuinely seem to care about more than money. In a way that makes it worse if he picks City over United.

Commenter said:
“Eden Hazard has stressed that he is still not ready to deliver news on his destination. In an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen, he stated: “I do not know when a decision is made about my future club. Anyway, it will be between Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. The final choice also depends on how much play I would get and the position where I’m played.” The Lille star says his favoured role is the ‘No10′ just behind a striker and he looks set to fulfil that position for Belgium in the next two friendlies.”

Hmmm… I wonder if that’s a snipe at United and City….

City because he might not play very much, United because he might be played out of position.

Still reckon City are favourites but he does genuinely seem to care about more than money. In a way that makes it worse if he picks City over United.

Am I the only cunt who doesn’t want this pissflap anywhere near our team? he sounds like a right smug big head who will be nothing but drama! Do you think Fergie will guarantee him a starting place and his favourite position?? No chance. Let’s move on.

brianofnazareth said:
Am I the only cunt who doesn’t want this pissflap anywhere near our team? he sounds like a right smug big head who will be nothing but drama! Do you think Fergie will guarantee him a starting place and his favourite position?? No chance. Let’s move on.

brianofnazareth said:
Am I the only cunt who doesn’t want this pissflap anywhere near our team? he sounds like a right smug big head who will be nothing but drama! Do you think Fergie will guarantee him a starting place and his favourite position?? No chance. Let’s move on.

Earnshaw???

He’s a cocky little sod, no doubt… and we don’t want that sort at United… no sir… no more Ronaldos, Cantonas, Rooneys…

Come on Brian… I can guarantee, that most of what you read about him is encouraged by his agent… if he’s really that good… and knows it… then why not play the game, and get EXACTLY what you want…???

I admit, the money part gets on my nerves… players of his calibre will earn money by the truck load, playing for ANY of the top clubs… but I can understand him wanting to explore the type of team he’ll be joining, how they’re going to use him and how much he’ll play… makes perfect sense to me.

in 2years time, Paul Pogba will be much more outstanding than most of these players we have been ranting about including Mr Hazardous. We didnt do enough to keep the lad, he should have gotten more games this season. Juventus!!! ridiculous, something really isnt right here. Hope he doesnt come back to haunt us. I would have loved to see him blossom at united. Fergie should sign Fellaini to cover for kagawas defensive frailties.

in 2years time, Paul Pogba will be much more outstanding than most of these players we have been ranting about including Mr Hazardous. We didnt do enough to keep the lad, he should have gotten more games this season. Juventus!!! ridiculous, something really isnt right here. Hope he doesnt come back to haunt us. I would have loved to see him blossom at united. Fergie should sign Fellaini to cover for kagawas defensive frailties as well as keeping Yaya silent.

Comparing Toure/Fletcher is valid in my opinion because both guys have been the integral component to their team’s success.

When YaYa was in Africa the Bitters struggled; when Fletcherinho has been missing TheLads have not been able to contain a pressing opponent – and have lost most of the time.

So, the comparison relates to value-to-the-team and NOT actual ability or playing style.

Like I wrote earlier, Hazard good; Kagawa better; but Fletcherinho BEST ! His absence is the elephant-in-the-room. NoFletch/NoWin – look it up.

In terms of the preceding discussion, I’d have to come down on Calvino’s side – adding Sandro would be a HUGE step forward. A massively under-rated player. Most of the other likely-lads – Gokan Inler of Napoli, M’Vila, Javi Martinez – require a better “scouting vision” than I possess. But from what I’ve seen, Sandro (or maybe Johan Cabaye, for different reasons) are the two EPL players who would add a lot to this UTD squad. Of course, YaYa would add more – but he wants to go back to Barcelona !

From sky sports Reports emanating from France are now claiming Chelsea are now at the front of the queue ahead of Manchester City and Manchester United for Lille ace Eden Hazard. This transfer saga should be concluded soon with the player set to make an announcement on his future next week

Hope he goes to us though….I know my pitch to him: Big club, big brand, big name, and you’ll be our marquee player to bring us back to glory times…

Anantax said:
From sky sports Reports emanating from France are now claiming Chelsea are now at the front of the queue ahead of Manchester City and Manchester United for Lille ace Eden Hazard. This transfer saga should be concluded soon with the player set to make an announcement on his future next week

Hope he goes to us though….I know my pitch to him: Big club, big brand, big name, and you’ll be our marquee player to bring us back to glory times…

Baloo – the question/answer was far more about his role than the nominal number. He wasn’t to play as a ’10’ – the role Fergie has identified for him, with Rooney moving back to number 9 etc. I watched Lille half-a-dozen times in the past season and never once saw him play there, but apparently he does.

Ed – yeah, I saw a few quotes relating to the actual ‘position’ but then saw this quote on Red News (not sure where it came from – it’s not attributed):

Eden Hazard again scores – this time for Belgium against Montenegro and again says where he plays crucial to move

“I also had the most assists in the League, and I never believed I could possibly come up with such a fantastic set of statistics. Certainly, I could not have made such a decisive contribution, had the coach at Lille not changed my position. It is all down to that. I have always dreamed of playing the number 10 role, and wearing that number on my back, and you can see what a difference it makes from how many goals I have scored and set up for others. That will be a consideration when I decide on my club. Where I will play will influence my thinking on who I should join.”

Hopefully, as you say, the literal number thing is a throw-away comment.

Am I an idiot to start getting a weirdly positive feeling about this one…?

Baloo – it will be an excellent victory for romance over money, but until I see uncle Fergie gurning like a simpleton while that Belgian’s signature is dried on a freshly cut 5 year contract, I’d hold off on the hope. And the dreams.

The more I see that we’re interested in Hazard… the more I worry about us selling Rooney.
That would be just like the Glazers and Ferguson…
Impress the hell out of the fans by making this great new signing… spending some serious money… £35mill transfer, and £150k in wages… and the crowd goes wild…
Then out of nowhere, Rooney gets sold… £40/50mill recouped, and £200+k wiped off the payroll… and stories suspiciously emerge that Rooney forced the move… which he strenuously denies… but everyone remembers his demanding a move last year so… he ends up looking the bad guy…
And the Glazers come out of it financially better off.

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

Alfonso Bedoya said:
The more I see that we’re interested in Hazard… the more I worry about us selling Rooney.

That would be just like the Glazers and Ferguson…

Impress the hell out of the fans by making this great new signing… spending some serious money… £35mill transfer, and £150k in wages… and the crowd goes wild…

Then out of nowhere, Rooney gets sold… £40/50mill recouped, and £200+k wiped off the payroll… and stories suspiciously emerge that Rooney forced the move… which he strenuously denies… but everyone remembers his demanding a move last year so… he ends up looking the bad guy…

And the Glazers come out of it financially better off.

Actually that wouldn’t really surprise me that much, not so much because of the Glazer factor, but because towards the end of last season his body language suggested he was becoming increasingly frustrated and disillusioned, even when he was scoring the goals he didn’t seem like he was enjoying it, and we already had his little attempted exit last year or the year before (whenever it was) because he was (understandably) frustrated by the lack of big-name signings.

If it does come to be, the way I reckon it’ll be portrayed is that Rooney no longer fits into out plans (and to be fair, his form towards the end of last season was pretty poor despite the goals he scored, whether that’s due to his frustration at the lack of team investment or some serious distraction in his personal life that’s yet to come to light), and that Hazard is younger and hungrier for success. If Hazard does pick United (and that is still a big if) then it would surely show a certain amount of desire and ambition to be part of something historic rather than just going where the money is. I’d be curious to see where Rooney would go though if this did happen. Fergie would never let him go to City as long as he’s manager, so presumably that’d leave Real Madrid and Barcelona as the only viable options.

Spud – If Rooney’s people started encouraging City to make a move once again would it really surprise? Then if Fergie justified a Rooney sale on the basis of strengthening squad would it surprise anyone?

I don’t think Rooney is going anywhere.
and I doubt we’d sell Nani by choice. If Nani and Berbatov both left the technical quality of our squad would be embarrassing.

To be honest the only reason I want Hazard is to stop City and Chelsea getting him. He seems like a cunt. I honestly wonder if Kagawa would be a much better signing because he would be more eager and motivated to prove himself. Plus he is less likely to move to Spain in the future since the PL is the considered the apex for the Japanese.

When FFP comes in clubs will no longer be able to pay massive fees, so we could never cash in like we did with Ronaldo.

The only thing that reassures me about us not selling Rooney is how hard Fergie and the club worked to keep him. He’s the team’s best player, he’s the cornerstone of the United brand these days, and he sells a lot of shirts. Even his new high wage is a good bit of business for the amount of business he brings into the club indirectly. The Glazers don’t care that much about the club’s success in football terms, but they know they can’t afford to sell the likes of him and let the whole thing go completely to shit. Arsenal are in the same boat now — they really can’t afford to lose Van Persie. His transfer fee ain’t worth falling out of the top 4 in pure money terms.

On the other hand, Nani might be expendable. Nani’s wage hike, Hazard’s signing, Kagawa’s signing — at least one of those things ain’t going to happen.

The fact that we seem to have put in a bid for Kagawa for real indicates that (a) we knew we weren’t getting Hazard, or (b) we wanted to scare Hazard by making a bid for Kagawa we knew was just low enough that Dortmund would reject it but make it public.

Ed said:
Spud – If Rooney’s people started encouraging City to make a move once again would it really surprise? Then if Fergie justified a Rooney sale on the basis of strengthening squad would it surprise anyone?

Rooney being sold wouldn’t surprise me, but if it was to City it would. Everyone knows how stubborn Fergie is, and I cannot see him ever sanctioning the sale of one the clubs star players to a domestic rival, no matter what the transfer fee involved. If Rooney went to City, it’d be only as a result of the owners’ intervention, and if that happened I genuinely believe Fergie would walk out before he tolerated that.

Everyone’s saying Chelsea. Even Saha on his Twitter feed. What the hell does he know? Best case: give Eden the #7 shirt, play him behind Rooney in a 4-2-3-1 and sell a combination of Berbs, Nani and Ando to make the fee/wages balance. Then Fergie spends the budgeted 30 mil on Baines/Kagawa/Powell or Clyne and calls it a day. Rooney goes nowhere. If Chelski did win his services, gin up the exact same deal for Modric.

Difference is, Veron was a player who, irrespective of how much talent he had, just didn’t fit into the team in an effective way, whereas Rooney is the absolute pinnacle of our team even when he’s off-form. As far Veron goes, he didn’t exactly set the world alight at Chelsea either, and maybe Fergie knew that would be the case, but Rooney’s very different, I think he’d be a dangerous asset to whatever club bought him, and Fergie must know that too.

To be honest Hazard seems at this point to be all that’s wrong with modern footballers. He may yet choose us but the way he is dragging this whole drama out is very disrespectful to the clubs he turns down. Who does he think he is!

Those stats on Hazard vs. Kagawa are very interesting and Kagawa has kept pretty quiet through this whole affair. The eastern culture of respect seems to be at play here, and he seems a good character. Those are the kind of players you want at OT.

Bill said:
To be honest Hazard seems at this point to be all that’s wrong with modern footballers. He may yet choose us but the way he is dragging this whole drama out is very disrespectful to the clubs he turns down. Who does he think he is!

Those stats on Hazard vs. Kagawa are very interesting and Kagawa has kept pretty quiet through this whole affair. The eastern culture of respect seems to be at play here, and he seems a good character. Those are the kind of players you want at OT.

If we are permanently out of the running for the big names, we have to pick up the level below with players of decent character. References from people within football will help with this. Valencia is one prime example, I can see Kagawa being the same. This especially applies with foreign buys.

Going for Powell seems sound enough with his north-west connections. Much rather have him than Pogba. Young is another example of a safe British buy. He’s not amazing but isn’t going to terrible either. Clyne might be another example, might be a safer bet than the likes of Rafael/Fabio in the long term.

Going for Hazard was probably partially a PR initiative to show we can match the other big teams financial on the surface. However Chelsea and City have billionaire owners who will spend big regularly. We don’t. And that’s why will get passed over by today’s mercenaries.

I don’t believe we are seriously in the running for Hazard… never were… and what really bugs me… we seem to be haggling like tight arsed cunts over Kagawa as well.
We brought him over… gave him the grand tour, and the sales pitch… and then sent him back with a bargain hunters offer… and Dortmund rightly told us to stuff it.
It would be typical of us, the way we handle transfers now, to play this stupid spin game over Hazard… and then when it comes time to move for the realistic target, Kagawa… to be too little, too late.
Good thing Scholes and Giggs are still around.

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

I’m not defending the Glazers here but we must have done something right to put in a bid that met Lille’s approval – and I thought we (along with Chelsea and City) put in terms that were deemed acceptable to Hazard, otherwise the agent could have told us to sod off there and then.
SSN are apparently reporting that an announcement will be made tonight.

“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”

Gill and Ferguson need to improve their sales pitch. They can do a hell of alot better. And that applies to get the Glazers to release funds too. They ticked the boxes for Hazard so at least it looked like we were doing something.

sheesh said:
I’m not defending the Glazers here but we must have done something right to put in a bid that met Lille’s approval – and I thought we (along with Chelsea and City) put in terms that were deemed acceptable to Hazard, otherwise the agent could have told us to sod off there and then.

SSN are apparently reporting that an announcement will be made tonight.

Look… I know it’s a very cynical outlook… but making an offer, and following through are two different things.

If United have offered Hazard acceptable terms… then I can honestly see no reason why he’d choose either of the other two.

We’ve got the biggest stadium… the biggest fan base… offer the best commercial opportunities… and are, and have been there, or there abouts in the PL and Champs league for years…

Neither Chelsea or City can offer him anything, that we can’t better… except wages.

Chelsea are in London which, in itself, is a huge attraction for any young player. If you had to choose between living in Manchester and living in London and you’re single and in your early 20’s there is no contest, IMO.

City are a side on the up and they will only get stronger with experience.

As for us, we have history and tradition but modern day players don’t give a shit about these things, unfortunately.

I hope we get Powell after that wonder goal in L2 playoff final. I was going to watch it but thought its only L2, but that was something special. For a player that young to have a huge influence on a play off final does show us his potential. Being for the north west too helps with the transition and long term potential Sign him up and then send him back to Crewe on loan once he’s has pre-season with us.

I don’t see anything wrong with haggling over a player’s price, that’s what a negotiation is. It seems odd that we would be seriously hunting both Kagawa and Hazard unless we were planning on selling someone like Young or Nani. It seems more likely that Kagawa is the back-up option.

Yeah Kagawa definitely looks like he’d be a big improvement to our starting 11 — he looks like he’d link up with Rooney perfectly. And if buying him instead of Hazard saves 15M that could be wisely spent elsewhere, that might be the best outcome for us.

bman said:
Yeah Kagawa definitely looks like he’d be a big improvement to our starting 11 — he looks like he’d link up with Rooney perfectly. And if buying him instead of Hazard saves 15M that could be wisely spent elsewhere, that might be the best outcome for us.

Personally I will be pissed off if they fuck this one up quiet lad who does the business on the field and has played a good part in Dortmunds success the last couple of seasons hopefully if we get him we could get the fluidity we had with Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney back terrorising opponents because they don’t know who the hell to watch.

Yep it has to be said that video is very impressive. Pace, balance, vision and lighting in the box too. Can see him have a great work ethic a la Park but lots more flair and skill. Him in the hole with Rooney up top, Carrick, Scholes CM.

I watched a video of Park recently from 2002… he was brilliant, skill, pace, control, finish… the lot. Easy to forget that a few years ago he was more than simply a hapless ‘energetic’ player. It’s almost like Fergie has conditioned it out of him. Much like he did with anderson and failed to do with Nani.

I mean YouTube videos are YouTube videos, but that video is 12 minutes of goodness, and it just covers this past season I think. I’ve seen several games that Kagawa played in, and he’s always looked really good. That team plays some cracking football.

I don’t think he puts a lot of tackles in, but he plays an Ozil kind of role, so that’s not really his job. He definitely puts in a good shift and seems to love his football. I’ve been saying for ages, whatever happens with Hazard, Kagawa looks like an excellent buy for us. I think he would link up with Rooney and Welbeck really well, all three players are quick thinking and clever passers, he might reawaken the Roo of old.

The thing about Chelsea that you won’t get from United… the owner will actually get involved.

Like him or not,(I don’t) but Abramovic loves his football… and from what I’ve read, he’s gotten personally involved to bring Hazard round… I suppose he’d have to, since they’ve got no manager.

But that means he can sell Hazard on his own vision for the club… “I’m a rich, Russian motherfucker, and I’m going to build a team around you and Mata, and Torres… and I’ve got the biggest boat outside of the US Navy”…

Beats the hell out of a chat about strict budgets and wage structures with Gill, over tea and a croissant.

Alfonso Bedoya said:
The thing about Chelsea that you won’t get from United… the owner will actually get involved.

Like him or not,(I don’t) but Abramovic loves his football… and from what I’ve read, he’s gotten personally involved to bring Hazard round… I suppose he’d have to, since they’ve got no manager.

But that means he can sell Hazard on his own vision for the club… “I’m a rich, Russian motherfucker, and I’m going to build a team around you and Mata, and Torres… and I’ve got the biggest boat outside of the US Navy”…

Beats the hell out of a chat about strict budgets and wage structures with Gill, over tea and a croissant.

Do me a favour, Abramovic is a category 1 motherfucker. Maybe his “personal intervention” (i.e. rich twat thinks he knows something about football but doesn’t) will be luckier this time than when he spunked massive cash on Torres and Shevchenko, but the record suggests he just blew most of Chelsea’s transfer money on a single signing when half the team is past it.

bman said:
Do me a favour, Abramovic is a category 1 motherfucker. Maybe his “personal intervention” (i.e. rich twat thinks he knows something about football but doesn’t) will be luckier this time than when he spunked massive cash on Torres and Shevchenko, but the record suggests he just blew most of Chelsea’s transfer money on a single signing when half the team is past it.

Alfonso Bedoya said:
The thing about Chelsea that you won’t get from United… the owner will actually get involved.
Like him or not,(I don’t) but Abramovic loves his football… and from what I’ve read, he’s gotten personally involved to bring Hazard round… I suppose he’d have to, since they’ve got no manager.
But that means he can sell Hazard on his own vision for the club… “I’m a rich, Russian motherfucker, and I’m going to build a team around you and Mata, and Torres… and I’ve got the biggest boat outside of the US Navy”…
Beats the hell out of a chat about strict budgets and wage structures with Gill, over tea and a croissant.

It’s a sad indictment of the state of football when a foreign owner has to sell the club to a prospective player and we all know that ‘owners getting involved’ is a double-edged sword.
What’s also sad is that proper clubs like Newcastle and Spurs are the ones that will suffer. It’s all very well looking at our situation and saying “we can’t compete” but look at them.
Let’s not forget that they are still only the 6th best team in the country, despite Roman’s roubles.

We were never going to sign him, it was all a red herring. There’s no way Fergie would want to spunk all his transfer kitty (and then some) on one player, when he still has young lads with lots of potential to sign, to play in the reserves for a couple of years, with a few Carling Cup appearances thrown in until we get knocked out by Grimsby, and then sell on for a profit when the players themselves realise that they’re not going to get into the first team because both Scholes and Giggs have had leg transplants from 20-year-olds.

I am really not surprised we missed out on him, I only hope the old Fergie was using this as a smokescreen for someone else,
I have a strong hunch we will be left with Baines and Powell as our only signings in this window.

He has said that terms were agreed with all clubs. Wtf – so basically he has something written in his contract that guarantees a position and appearances?

Citeh could never do that because that would upset ya ya dollar and co. Taggart could not guarantee that because well it wld go against everything he stands for so how the fuck could a manager less club give him that assurance unless it was the mad Russian!

this is exactly why Jose and Anchovy got vexed, mad cunt Russian now writing football contracts.

To be honest he has just done a Torres, not only has he got his dollar he has effectively picked himself for his own position as a matter of contract law and presumably if the chavs don’t comply and he is fit to play he gets some cash in return. That is shocking and serious.

How can a club be such a slave that they guarantee positions and appearances. Who us running the club, what the fuck is a manager supposed to do? Taggart and Mancini were damn right NOT to accede to his demands. Taggart would rather cut his balls then bow to a player and Mancini has learned his lesson with tevez.

Only chavs cld accept this, they have no manager to object and tell hazard that he is being a cunt.

Telegraph says 170K a week for Hazard. Are you kidding me? For a 21 year old who has never played in the league? They also say Joe Cole talked Chelsea up to him. What did he say? “Come to Chelsea, they’ll shunt you off to the left and stifle your creativity, you’ll love it.” I pray this turns out like every other Roman-driven signing- Sheva, Ballack and Torres. Guarantee Fat Frank goes off the reservation when he sees his playing time evaporate.

So Benzema, Sneijder, Nasri, and now Hazard. either the club’s just lying to us and we’re not seriously in the hunt for any of these players, or united’s just become really unattractive to big name players. both possibilities are pretty depressing.

I have to laugh about these fucking stories of Chelsea “rebuilding”. They’ve spent as much money on players in the past 18 months as we have in the past 5 years. They’ve spent nearly £200M to sink to 6th place. Can’t believe the flukey bastards got the CL. Hazard does look ace, but the record shows that Abramovich’s influence over the spending is not successful. He doesn’t know anything more than any bloke in a pub, just whacks down huge sums for whoever is the flavour of the week in the newspapers, players and managers.

In the long term City’s much more dangerous, because they seem to be throwing in the money but leaving the football to the professionals.

bman said:
So Benzema, Sneijder, Nasri, and now Hazard. either the club’s just lying to us and we’re not seriously in the hunt for any of these players, or united’s just become really unattractive to big name players. both possibilities are pretty depressing.

Just add another name to the growing list of top MFs that snubbed United. Depressing? Yes, but also so predictable.

I guess we’ll be resigned to signing young players from League 2 sides now. A big thank you to the Glazers for this!

Kagawa = catalyst for a successfull season(dortmund) which includes demolishing european finalist munich 5-2 in their final.
Or;
Hazard = catalyst for successful ego massage, by helpin his club achieve 0 silverware, a massively impressive 3RD PLACE in an inferior league, but most importantly the big ‘ker-ching!’ From a daft billionaire russian…
NO BRAINER..!!!!!!!

Chelski’s success in the CL – undeserved some might say – has screwed a lot of clubs over. Bayern and Barca losing out to negative football, Spurs dropping into the Europa League, and of course now United missing out on Hazard. Roman can thank his lucky stars they won the CL because things could have been so different. Those flukey bastards!

Chelsea were only 6 points from coming 3rd in the league, which they would have achieved had they not had such long cup runs in the CL and FA cup. They are starting to build a good team. 2 great ‘keepers, 3/4s of their defence sorted for the next 5 years, marin, hazard, mata, torres, lukaku, ramires, sturridge. All they need is a RB and a CM and they’ll be one of the best teams again. Their only problem is their older players refuse to adapt.

We’re also only a few players away from having a great team. Difference is we have no money. No surprise he went to Chelsea. If he’d come to us he’d have been our only signing which would not have been enough.

fucking depressing. not too bothered about missing out on hazard in particular, but the state of football. city and chelsea are going to pull away from the rest of the league. chelsea even bought marko marin ffs, another exciting young player from germany.

thinking about united is even more depressing – we got no money to sign the big names, and clubs with no history can offer just as much glamour and higher wages. and fergie doesn’t even play the young players we do have in their best position, sticking with ‘experience’ instead. fuck football.

I do have concerns for this youth over big name strategy our two best youth players in recent times have now both left us to go elsewhere in Morrison and Pogba,
we cannot expect to recreate the class of 1992 again or find another Ronaldo,
I think what we all forgot is the class 1992 where not alone all the time, we went out and added established world class players or domesticly known star players.
I think this window will be a repeat of 1996 transfers in terms on players coming in,
I maybe wrong but we do not seem to have any long term targets or any planning gone into who we want,
Only deal seems likely is Kagawa now and I really feel we should have agreed deals already as with the Euros and Olympics the prices will increase.

1. We aren’t in the running for the big names or able to win auctions
2. Hazard is a mercenary and as Ed says if we really wanted him we should have tried last summer.
3. Kagawa is probably coming with Powell as our midfield signings. Kagawa looks a decent player with a good attitude and Powell is the best English midfielder for his age plus is from the northwest and likely to see United as the pinnacle of his career.

I’d expect the latter two to be signed by Clyne. Not a terrible haul if it comes in and the best we can expect all things considered.

what is our exact transfer budget anyone have any idea roughly ?
I do hope we get Baines I think our next step should be trying to raid clubs like Newcastle for cabaye/tiote, Fulham for Dempsey or Everton for Fellaini,
players that can do a job in the premier league and we should be able to attract,
I do think we will put a cheeky bid for Modric as he is one of Fergies targets.

all this hope for decent players actually coming to us: given what happened with Sneijder last year, it’ll probably soon start to sound like the voices of those millenial religious nuts camped on a mountain waiting for angels to come down in a flying saucer and take them all to heaven.

We all know it: a time of suffering is at hand, made worse by all the spin, hype and bullshit we are going to have to endure until the season starts and it’s back to the old age home to bring back our greats of yesteryear.

Hey the news about Kagawa is much more optimistic suddenly. How good it is to think that in what I poseted above, I could not be more horribly wrong and, of course, re EH we can then say: better a samurai than a spoilt brat

Alfonso Bedoya said:
The thing about Chelsea that you won’t get from United… the owner will actually get involved.

Like him or not,(I don’t) but Abramovic loves his football… and from what I’ve read, he’s gotten personally involved to bring Hazard round… I suppose he’d have to, since they’ve got no manager.

But that means he can sell Hazard on his own vision for the club… “I’m a rich, Russian motherfucker, and I’m going to build a team around you and Mata, and Torres… and I’ve got the biggest boat outside of the US Navy”…

Alfonso Bedoya said:
Ok… so Hazard is a no go… and we’re going for the much cheaper Kagawa… fair enough… still looks a good player… but that means we’ve saved £20mill… how about spending that on M’Vila?

Kagawa and M’Vila… that would give us the best centre mid pair we’ve had since the heyday of Keane/Scholes.

Sounds like a plan. In all honesty i would be happy with any centre midfield player who goes straight into the 1st 11. No youth bollox please.

I’d be surprised if Fergie was interested in MVila, even though he’s a good player. he looks like a purely defensive midfielder in the Makelele mould, who is barely more advanced than the center backs. It’s just not Fergie’s style to use a pure holding midfielder, Carrick is as defensive as Fergie’s thinking gets.

if we get another body for midfield, I’d think it would be someone who puts himself about in the style of Fletcher or Keano.

Without wanting to resorting to slagging off all and sundry for this, I only have one nagging doubt: why aren’t we able to put a convincing argument to a player to choose us above Chelsea? We’d like to believe it’s just a matter of money, but is it always – or are the club not doing enough to make players want to come?

A few years back United announced the signing of Ramsay on the website before he chose Arsenal – that’s not a team that will pay more than United but we still lost out (whether that is good or bad is indifferent). There was a certain degree of arrogance about that which makes you wonder what goes on. I remember back when we were signing Ruud, even when it fell through the first time, Fergie made sure he got his man eventually. It pains me to think that an owner of a club without a manager can sell it to a player better than United can.

Its hard enough to accept that we can’t compete financially these days, let alone not being an attractive option to a player.

bman said:
I’d be surprised if Fergie was interested in MVila, even though he’s a good player. he looks like a purely defensive midfielder in the Makelele mould, who is barely more advanced than the center backs. It’s just not Fergie’s style to use a pure holding midfielder, Carrick is as defensive as Fergie’s thinking gets.

if we get another body for midfield, I’d think it would be someone who puts himself about in the style of Fletcher or Keano.

Commenter said:
Kagawa = catalyst for a successfull season(dortmund) which includes demolishing european finalist munich 5-2 in their final.
Or;
Hazard = catalyst for successful ego massage, by helpin his club achieve 0 silverware, a massively impressive 3RD PLACE in an inferior league, but most importantly the big ‘ker-ching!’ From a daft billionaire russian…
NO BRAINER..!!!!!!!

Just1n said:
Yeah but essentially he was a defensive midfielder and a proper one at that but also able to play a bit. He has not been replaced.

Right but he wasn’t at all the kind of player M’Vila looks to be. It wouldn’t be remotely a like for like replacement, although the two players do in theory bring some solidity to midfield, but in different ways.

You guys just don’t get it. Its not a matter of paying millions for players, its the style of football you play.
I keep repeating Bilbao. SAF said and continues to say that this team plays some of the best football he has ever seen. There are no superstars in this team, just a bunch of youngsters and the average age of Bilbao is 21 years old. They gave us a lesson TWICE in how to play football. Arsenal and Swansea are the two most attractive football playing clubs in the EPL. Thats why Liverpool are now going after a 39 year old manager, Brendan Rogers. We are still playing the Fergie way, a 70 year old who is out of touch with modern day football and modern day tactics. But Fergie is still clever enough to win another EPL but we will not progress in the Champions League. Thats the way Eden Hazard sees it also, thats why he has signed for Chelsea. The Chelsea manager is only 41 years old, but he knows how to win in Europe. Don’t expect much more progress until Fergie retires. The big name players do not want to play for Man United because you have to play the Fergie way, so these big name players go to other clubs who let them play their own game and show their skills. Thats why Anderson has been a failure at Man.United. He came as the best attacking midfielder out of Brazil but Fergie said I want you to play my way as a defensive midfielder and he has failed. He had never played this role before in his life so what else can you expect? You don’t buy the best goalkeeper in the world and than tell him I want you to play as a striker!

bman said:
I’d be surprised if Fergie was interested in MVila, even though he’s a good player. he looks like a purely defensive midfielder in the Makelele mould, who is barely more advanced than the center backs. It’s just not Fergie’s style to use a pure holding midfielder, Carrick is as defensive as Fergie’s thinking gets.

if we get another body for midfield, I’d think it would be someone who puts himself about in the style of Fletcher or Keano.

Oh come on…

He’s only 21 years old ffs… he’s 6 ft tall, built like an oak tree, and is very comfortable on the ball… it’s not a great adjustment in his development to tell him to step forward a couple yards and get more involved… You make it sound like trying to turn a 30 year old striker into a defender.

Looks like Chelsea are closing in on Hulk, too, according to Sky Sports… They’ll be up there next season and Torres will be free from Drogba, so he’ll be firing on all cylinders too. Third place, anyone…?

Fair point about M’Vila. I’d be happy if we did sign him, since he looks good. But I don’t think Fergie would use him the way he seems to be used by France and Rennes, Fergie just doesn’t do the “holding midfielder” thing they way a lot of teams do.

I’m not entirely convinced by Hulk. He’s the kind of player that if we bought for big money I’d be worried would be a bit of a flop. I don’t think Torres is ever going to return to the glory days either, but on the other hand Hazard looks a pretty good bet to be excellent.

liverpool spent £76 million on Carroll, Henderson and Downing. Combined for 13 goals and 7 assists this season.
chelsea spent £78 million on Hulk, Hazard and Marin. Combined for 42 goals and 26 assists this season.

nailyclops said:
Torres will come good, if the new manager makes him the focal point of the attack and plays him regulalry. He’ll be up there for the golden boot this coming season if he is.

IF – and that’s a big IF – Torres can regain his form then that front 4 of Torres, Hazard, Hulk and Mata (with Sturrdige, MArin and others there) will be one hell of an attacking force. But I think our front 4 of Rooney, Kagawa, AY/Nani and Valencia isn’t far off and could be even better. I fear for City’s front 4 because you know they are going to bring a world class striker this summer.